Meetings

Chicago Archaeological Society Meeting – “The Marvels of Mud: Using Lake sediment cores to uncover the Ecological History of the Cahokia Region”

Sunday, February 22, 3:00 PM – Evanston Public Library

Samuel E. Munoz

Mr. Samuel E. Munoz, will present to the meeting a unique key to unlocking some of the secrets of Cahokia’s muddy past!

Mr. Munoz, a global change scientist with training in physical geography, interests are multidisciplinary i.e. connecting the fields of paleoclimatology, biogeography, geomorphology, and geoarchaeology. In his research he has used sedimentary records to investigate how the biosphere and the hydrosphere respond to environmental change, and how humans shape and respond to these changes.

He is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Geography at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a trainee in a multidisciplinary IGERT (Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship) focused on Novel Ecosystems.

Red Rock Canyon History Hike (Free) – Explore and learn about the quarry which supplied stone to help build the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver and Colorado College in Colorado Springs, the old trails and rails that crossed the canyon and the other remnants of times gone by.

Topic: “The Invention of Community in the Ancient Southwest”

In this keynote dinner presentation, Dr. Scott Ortman will share his recent work with Crow Canyon, which explores how Mesa Verde Pueblo society took shape during the Basketmaker III period. While this talk will touch on concepts presented in his book, Winds from the North, much of the information Dr. Ortman shares will be new and not yet published.

In his research, Dr. Scott Ortman focuses on historical anthropology, or the integration of theory and data from many fields to understand the long-term histories of indigenous peoples. He is especially interested in the causes and consequences of major transitions – periods when new societies formed, old ones collapsed, or new scales of organization emerged. He has investigated Tewa Pueblo origins, the growth and collapse of villages in the Mesa Verde region, and the accumulation of social complexity on a global scale. Dr. Ortman is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Colorado. Previously, he was Director of Research at the Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and an Omidyar Postdoctoral Fellow at the Santa Fe Institute. He earned his PhD from Arizona State University.

Field Trips (Free)

Date: Sunday, September 28
Time: 8:00 A.M. to 4:00 P.M. (some half day, some full day)
Locations:
Florissant Fossil Beds: culturally modified trees
Monarch Pass Game Drive: perfect for those returning to the western slope, or those taking who might take the long way home to the upper Front Range.
Roper’s Walk Apishapa Site: near Beulah

Rodeway Inn
103 Manitou Ave.
Manitou Springs, CO 80829
719-685-3300
Rate for Conference Attendees
Standard room with one king or two queen beds – 1-2 people $70.00
Extra persons $10 each
Suites with One king or two queen beds – 1-2 people $95.00
Cancellation – 24 hours
Free parking
All rooms non-smoking, exterior corridors, no elevator; includes full breakfast. When making reservation, ask for CAS or Colorado Archaeological Society rate (reserve by August 23, 2014 to ensure a room).

South Texas Archaeological Association Quarterly Meeting: “A Brief History on the Archaeology at the Longest Inhabited Location in North America” by Amy Reid, CAS

July 26, 1:30 PM – Institute of Texas Culture, San Antonio, Texas

With archaeological deposits dating from 13,000 years ago to the present, Spring Lake and the surrounding environs in San Marcos have been tabbed by archaeologists as the longest inhabited location in North America. Archaeological investigations in and around Spring Lake have been on-going since the 1970s and have built a body of evidence to support this assertion. This presentation will briefly review the history of archaeological investigations at Spring Lake and then discuss the findings, paying particular attention to the Calf Creek period. The Calf Creek period (ca. 5955-5815 BP) deposits at Spring Lake are some of the best preserved in all of Texas and provide a unique opportunity to study and understand the end of the Early Archaic period. Results of the current investigations at Spring Lake will also be presented.